I liked the theory where the knowledge to make top notch lightsabers is lost and we see more "crude" ones

As for the lightsaber... ech... Adding more blades to a lightsaber doesn't make me care about Star Wars.

But, but, but... it's so awesome.

I liked the trailer overall. However (and I'm probably overthinking this), I don't like how the hilt's quillons are vulnerable at the base. If the another lightsaber cuts in close, it's going right through that. Though, maybe it's made of phrik. Regardless, that final shot really got me. I'm usually not a fan of crazy camera angles like that, but it totally worked here!

I liked the theory where the knowledge to make top notch lightsabers is lost and we see more "crude" ones

Well, Luke had access to the proper techniques to build a top-notch lightsaber, but in Legends at least that was due to Kenobi leaving him a how-to manual on various lightsaber construction techniques, including the creation of synthetic crystals.

If the speculation about the reason for Mark Hamill's contractually obligated beard is true and that Luke has pretty much become a hermit and not set about rebuilding the Jedi Order, then it is possible that he's failed to pass on what he's learned, including things like "this is how you build a proper lightsaber."

There are many variables here that are unknown.

• How long after RotJ does all this actually take place? One thing I never cared for in the EU was how quickly and competently the Jedi were returned to the galaxy. I think it would take much longer to rebuild them. Training and recruiting the people that would also become teachers and mentors should take a while.
• Now all that being said, I think that many people get way too stuck on Luke being "the last of the Jedi". So will we now see that others survived the purge on the big screen as we are on the little one? After the initial "fall" of the Empire other Jedi in Hiding may resurface.
• Are/Is the villain(s) a recent creation or an ancient evil reawakened? I like the idea of an ancient Sith awakened only to find little to nothing in the way of Jedi/Sith. So much potential.

Lots of stuff to speculate about.

I liked the theory where the knowledge to make top notch lightsabers is lost and we see more "crude" ones

Well, Luke had access to the proper techniques to build a top-notch lightsaber, but in Legends at least that was due to Kenobi leaving him a how-to manual on various lightsaber construction techniques, including the creation of synthetic crystals.

If the speculation about the reason for Mark Hamill's contractually obligated beard is true and that Luke has pretty much become a hermit and not set about rebuilding the Jedi Order, then it is possible that he's failed to pass on what he's learned, including things like "this is how you build a proper lightsaber."

The explanation that I heard (not saying it's true) is that

Qui-gon Jin had a beard while he was training obiwan (and likely before that)

Obiwan Kenobi grew a beard once he starting training Anakin

Luke Skywalker grew a beard once he started training ?????

In other words it was traditional for this particular line of Jedi to grow beards when they started training a padawan/apprentice.

I think it is more likely that Luke actually followed Yoda's instruction and started training Jedi, possibly the red lightsaber guy is an apprentice that went dark and luke stopped training him (so he had to work out how to build a lightsaber on his own, and didn't do such a good job) but let him go in the hopes that he would come back to the light side, and that luke's new apprentice is going to have to take him down (and luke might become a force ghost in this episode, luke killed in the confrontation in a phantom menance type fashion, but I really hope that they don't kill off luke)

Mouthymerc,

On the first point, I recall hearing that it was going to be set at or around 30 years after the original films, or not long after when the NJO series would have ended. So it's been sometime since the death of Vader and Palps, and I do agree that getting a fully working Jedi Order in that time frame would be a monumental task, even if Luke wasn't the only Jedi to survive the Original Trilogy films.